Okay, I have a bit of a problem and I think I have come to the best place (IMHO) to get help. First off, here are my system specs..... Athlon XP 2500+ @ 2.3Ghz Swiftech MCX 462+ Heatsink DELTA HHE 3200 RPM 80mm FAN ABIT NF7-S Rev 2 Motherboard Geil 2x512 DDR 466 Golden Dragon RAM PATA Maxtor 80Gb 7200RPM HDD 16X ASUS DVDROM 40X Lite-ON CDRW Giga-Byte nVidia GeForce FX 5950 Ultra - GT Sound Blaster Audigy 2 (Retail) Belkin 54G Wireless Card ThermalTake SilentPower 480W Power Supply Panasonic Floppy Rounded Cables Everywhere All these components are house in a Lian-Li PC-65B Alu case with a side window (from factory). Also some more info regarding the case. The top and rear exhaust fans were removed and replaced with COOLERMASTER LED fans. The front 2 fans (before the HDD) are left as stock. Okay here is where the problem starts........ I've noticed that ever since changing my case to the Lian-Li (my previous case was a ThermalTake Lanfire (super cramped!!!)) the internal case temperatures are a bit on the high side. After an intense gaming session my internal case temp reaches somewhere in the 30-35C range. While in the Lanfire it rarely even touched 30C. The air coming out of the top exhaust fan is relatively warm to the touch. Oh yeah, one more thing, the Lanfire case was warm until I modded the existing side window (92mm). Changed the fan from the default Tt SmartFan to a SanyoDenki (HUGE CFM!!). Changing the side fan greatly reduced the case temp. In light of that, now I would like to do the same to my Lian-Li. Oh yeah please, no offense, but don't tell me about back-pressures and side panel fans not being good etc. I've made up my mind, and don't want advice on that issue. What I do need advice on is how to PROPERLY cut a 92mm hole, and the 4 screw holes to secure the fan on the side panel (plastic one) without causing too much damage and/or cracking to the side panel. I have a 92mm Grille, so that's not a bother. Also one point of thought. I do not have access to fancy power tools such as a press drill or anything like that. This has to be a pretty much rudimentary approach. I was told that I could use a protrator/compass to do something like that. Please help!
Yep, buy a hole saw for your drill, not the spade bit kind. I don't even think they come that large for spade bits, least for john q public anyways. Tape up the panel in masking tape. Put the fan down, draw out your screw holes and fan hole. Mark the center of the fan hole. Hit that area with a hammer and the tip of something to make a divot for the bit to start in (nail, chisel, tap, etc). Drill on through with your hole saw. Put the fan back up there and make sure it/screw holes lines up. Reposition/remark as necessary and drill your screw holes (hint, if you're going to use grommets, better think about that now). Peel back the masking tape, file down the edges a bit. Mount up.
just tell your dad that you need a hole the size of the hole in this fan and 4 holes to mount the fan over that hole ... or find a friend with power tools, or a neighbor, or an uncle. jesus, go get a jigsaw and cut it yourself =P its just like cutting wood. or paper or anything, but with a different tool. get a metal cutting blade for any kind of plastics.. that means it has a blade with ALOT of really tiny teeth (like a hacksaw) to make sure everything is in the right place, put the fan on the plastic (use a T-Square to make sure its level and whatever) then put masking or painters tap across the whole window and use a marker and mark off where the holes are, and trace the fan-hole (tip you can use a dry erase marker and flip the window over to trace the fan-hole a bit eaiser.... but if you dont tape it down, the jigsaw will scratch the hell outta your panel. =P or you can GOOGLE for a PDF of a fan cad drawing that is 1:1 rato, print it out, then tape it to the window and use that as a template =) that would be quite nice eh? anyway you choose, good luck
